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User blog:Gracchus Mccarthe/A fair analysis of the Heavy Class:
I play mostly as the Heavy class, and I have a pretty good amount of experience with it. This class is my favorite, but I'll do my best not to make the Heavy class sound better than it actually is. All facts will be underlined. Speculation and opinion will not. Let me know if you think this is an accurate analysis or not. Heavy class Overview The Heavy class’s description reads as follows: Heavy Gunners' '' special skill makes them ideal for delivering overwhelming force to enemy positions.'' This description can be somewhat msileading: the Heavy class is meant for survival, not power. Though the Heavy has four offensive skills, he is generally weaker firepower-wise than the Assault. Skills Hold the Line: Increases damage and pierce while standing still. This skill is most useful in situations that require little to no mobility and in narrow places. This is because the skill is fully enabled while not moving, and the increased pierce will be more effective on long lines of enemies. This skill still provides a buff while moving, but it is noticeably less powerful. HTL can will increase damage and pierce by 126% if maxed out. Also, if maxed out, the skill itself will outlast the cooldown period, the Heavy will be able to use HTL endlessly, if the other activated skills are not used. This skill lasts 8 seconds and increases damage and pierce by 30% unupgraded, so I would suggest spending only a few skill points maximum on it, unless you really want a max damage build (which the Heavy is not as good at as the Assault). Heavy Gear: Decreases movement penalties Heavy Gear can completely nullify movement penalties if maxed out. With Full Hardplate and an M1000, a massive penalty of 172% will become 0%! Heavy Gear can potentially increase speed 4x more than the Fast Movement skill, though having full Hardplate and an M1000 is pretty rare. This skill is a must for a speedy Heavy. Level 25 will likely not be needed, since masteries and collections will reduce movement penalties by miniscule amounts. Tough Body: Hard damage reduction This skill reduces damage to less than half when maxed out. With 99|99|99 armor, Dark Minions will only deal about 1/3 damage, since they ignore 75% of armor. This skill is viable for any type of Heavy, but only tank Heavies need to get it to a high level. Die Another Day: Become 90% immune to damage This skill is meant to be a last resort. If cornered or swarmed, a Heavy can use DAD to kill/escape an immediate threat. Though it doesn't last long, I know by experience, DAD can be a life saver. When maxed out, this skill lasts 10 seconds. I wouldn't suggest getting this maxed out, however, as unupgraded, it lasts 4 seconds (long eough to escape most dire threats) and will save 24 skill points. Brute Strength: Damages enemies when you run into them This skill is rather weak. Isuggest only using at level 1 (for the upgrade, not the soldier's rank), and if a skill respec becomes available, Brute Strength can be removed altogether at a high rank. Maxed CQC Enhanced (on a vest) is much more powerful than maxed Brute Strength. Even though this skill increases push power, it needs to be upgraded pretty high to have a noticeable effect. Concussion: Stuns enemies This skill is most useful on weapons with a high RoF and/or multiple flechettes, since each flecchette has an individual chance to stun. The Mixmaster and Shockfield are good examples. Level one Concussion has a 5% chance to stun an enemy for 0.5 seconds. This can slow down swarms or hold a boss still for a moment so that the player(s) can escape it. Maxed out Concussion has a 17% chance to stun an enemy for 1.7 seconds. I do not suggest maxing it out. One to five levels should suffice. Aerial Bombardment: Call down the thunder!!! Call in an orbital strike that deals massive damage This skill is quite powerful. It deals a total of 12000 damage unupgraded and nearly 450000 damage maxed out! The explosions are very large (bigger than a Feldhaubitz's) and have infinite pierce, making this skill perfect for bringing down large groups of enemies, whether they be tough or weak. Though powerful, I do not advise maxing it out. 450000 damage can be achieved by an endgame weapon in around the amount of time Aerial Bombardment lasts, providing the weapon has plenty of buffs (augs, cores, armor-based buffs, etc). A few points in Aerial Bombardment will be more than enough. Roles The Heavy typically serves a survival role but is not necessarily limited to that: Survival: Getting a lot of points in Tough Body, Toughness, and BAE, and using DAD will make the Heavy very resilient. Attack: Concussion, Brute Strength (I don't recommend getting it), Critical Shot, HTL, Aerial Bombardment, and damage-enhacing augments can make the Heavy quite powerful. Speed: Getting Heavy Gear (if heavy equipment is going to be used), Fast Movement, and Fast Reload can make a Heavy into a mimic-Assault. Balanced: Spending multiple points on Tough Body, Concussion, HTL, and one to a few on DAD, Heavy Gear, Aerial Bombardment, and various universal skills will make for a well-rounded Heavy. Ultimate Survival Soldier: Maxing out Tough Body, Tooughness, Heavy Gear, and Fast Movement, and using the rest of the points for DAD, Concussion, and BAE, combined with using EACs on armor to achieve very high resistances will make it a pain-in-the-butt for even a Savage Necrosis to try and bring down the Heavy. Recap The Heavy class is mainly for staying alive. But that doesn't mean a Heavy can't bring power and speed to the table. Is this analysis fair and accurate? Yes. No. Fair, but not accurate. Accurate, but not fair. BTW, soon I'll be making a post that will show what people though of this and how these reviews compare in terms of bias and fact. Category:Blog posts